This invention is a spring-loaded door-closing device, suitable for holding open a turning door and particularly suitable for fixing to the under part of floors of vehicles having one or more doors which need to be held in an open position during loading and unloading.
There are existing spring-loaded door-closing devices which are suitable for fixing under the loading floor of vehicles and which are activated when the side or rear door, or doors, of vehicles have to be held open. This is to allow the driver, or any workers, to load and unload goods without being inconvenienced by any turning movement of the doors. The doors are held firm by the above-mentioned hooks, in windy conditions too, usually in a position close to the vehicle sides, thus preventing any obstacle and/or danger to workers during work or the doors turning on their hinges to a point whereby they are in a dangerous position to people and/or vehicles passing close by or arriving unexpectedly.
Existing door-closing devices consist of a metal tubular structure to which two protruding mounting plates or brackets are welded. These brackets have holes to take screws or bolts for fixing the door-closing device to the vehicle structure. These brackets are normally under the floor and in such a position that the locking pressure hook, when at rest, does not overhang the outer profile of the vehicle. The length of the tubular structure is sufficient, however, to allow the moving tube attached to the hook to slide until it protrudes sufficiently to allow fastening, after being rotated, of the door needing to be secured.
The fastening action is effected by an internal helical spring which counters the sliding out of the moving part and tends to hold it inside the tubular support. This support also acts as a guide for this moving part without impeding the rotation necessary to move the hook on the end of the tube from the rest position to the operating position.
Existing devices possess a major defect in that each type is suitable has to be fitted on the vehicle for which it was designed.
Changing the vehicle type and in particular the distances between the fixing points on the vehicle, thus varying where the fixing plates or brackets must be positioned, involves replacing the door-closing device.
Manufacturers of door-closing devices must therefore build different types, with brackets at different mutual distances; they must dispatch to users the types suitable for the vehicle on which they are to be installed or else they must require users to alter the fixing methods of the devices, thereby complicating matters for both the manufacturer and the user.